Fatima. F. Sultan
Roll no.: 16-10872
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the PKST101(D)
Instructor: Khizar JawadForman Christian College University (FCCU), Lahore.
Dec. 12th, 2013.
Similarities Between Zia and Musharraf’s Era Pakistan
Pakistan’s history has been married with dictatorship and military rule. Watching from a distance, we have dictators coming in over time and again. The reign of the dictators begins from self-proclaimed Field Marshall, General Ayub Khan and extends to the rule of the Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharaf,. During the transition from Ayub to Musharraf, there have been interludes of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif’s democratic eras but still the complete duration of martial, aristocratic rule is more than 32 years.
There would not be much similarity if the two are looked at apparently. But yes – both overthrew elected leaders to grab power. Here, by both, we mean Zia and Musharraf. While Zia ascended the “Pakistani Crown” by hanging Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Musharraf, on the other hand, was from a politer race of dictators and did not go that far with the Chairman of the renowned party, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). Musharraf ousted Nawaz Sharif and his family to Saudia Arabia in the name of “safe keeping” and the eliminated the political threat out of his way to power.
Now, the question arises: “Being bred and having political base lying in the Military, what were the similarities between Zia and Musharraf’s era Pakistan?” The general public opinion is borrowed and there is little regard of ground realities when measuring the success of governance in a particular era and there is negative sentiment that flows in the hearts and minds of the general population about the military autocrats.
The objectives of the research are to highlight:
1. Comparing a dictator versus a dictator as to analyse the similarities in their relative
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